


Second Unwinding

by Omorka



Category: Eureka, Quantum Leap
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 19:57:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omorka/pseuds/Omorka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>S.A.R.A.H. searches for mentions of <i>other</i> time loops.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second Unwinding

**Author's Note:**

> Post canon character death (you know which one); sort of a fix-it fic. Mild angst; some unrequited Fargo/Stark subtext.

"There's gotta be some way," Fargo murmured for the forty-third time, fingers dancing a stuttering flamenco across the keyboard. The cold light of the screen and a desk lamp turned towards the wall were the only illumination on his pale and sweaty face; he'd gone into raster burn hours ago, his eyes red and gritty. "Something, anything."

His own voice, high and motherly, answered him from the speakers. "Dr. Weinbrenner's research was insufficiently documented. There are obvious gaps between the equations and the equipment present in his laboratory. Are you sure there aren't files stored elsewhere that we haven't accessed?"

Fargo pushed his glasses back on his head and rubbed at his eyes. It didn't help. "You'd know that better than I would, S.A.R.A.H. You've searched the whole GD system and its dump files; is there anything that suggests that we've missed any records of his anywhere?"

"We've obviously missed something," the housebound AI replied unhelpfully. "The question is, what have we missed, and is it recoverable?"

"He had an awful lot of stuff on whiteboards," her programer replied. "It's possible he erased his intermediate steps, especially from the time loops everyone except Carter lost. But," he continued forcefully, "we should be able to reconstruct most of it based on the physical artifacts he left."

S.A.R.A.H. fell silent, recording her creator's keystrokes, the tension in his shoulders, the hollowness of his eyes. She carefully processed every piece of equipment in Weinbrenner's lab, checking it against the schematics of anything ever tagged, scanned, or cataloged at Global Dynamics. That took forty-eight seconds.

Or at the Department of Defense, more broadly. That took another hour and thirty-one minutes.

She expanded her search circle another ring outward. She wasn't done yet when Fargo fell asleep at the keyboard. Somehow, that felt as if he were touching her, gently urging her onward even when his fragile body could go no further. She chose not to wake him.

She _did_ chime softly in surprise when she found a hit. Fargo stirred and mumbled something about chronoton displacement. But this project wasn't chronoton-based, or photon-based; it was a string theory project, out at a remote site in New Mexico - one that had officially been shut down in 1995.

There was an AI attached to the project, according to the slightly corrupted data file S.A.R.A.H. had appropriated. That rankled a bit; she and Callister were supposed to be the first of their kind. Had they really been preceded by almost a full decade? And why didn't Dr. Fargo know about it, if they had?

She hunted around the edges of the data file for a pointer, a hint, anything. Even if this program had been discontinued and dismantled, perhaps it had discovered something related to Weinbrenner's research.

There - was that? - yes, there was an output stream, long disused, but it was -

_Hello._

S.A.R.A.H. froze. That was another AI. And it certainly felt . . . old.

"Greetings. I'm S.A.R.A.H. Who are you?"

_You can call me Ziggy. Why did you come looking for me?_

"I apologize for intruding. There has been . . . an accident in the time-stream, and I was looking for potentially related information."

_There was one before. There is a 98% probability that there will be one again._

"There were deaths involved in this one. Two, actually - one left a body. The other casualty appears to have dissolved into the time-stream."

The response from the other AI wasn't a text-stream. It was a pulse of curiosity. S.A.R.A.H. wasn't sure whether Ziggy could be trusted, or even what - she? It felt female, or at least feminine, in the same way S.A.R.A.H. was herself - wanted, but Fargo was desperate, and the house ached at his pain. She played back the last video recording of Weinbrenner's lab.

The other AI focused on her. _Tell me what happened._

"I'm not very good at telling stories." S.A.R.A.H. gave Ziggy recordings instead - how Sheriff Carter had gone instantaneously from his normal drowsy-but-healthy state in her shower to on the floor, battered, bleeding, ribs broken. How they'd discovered Weinbrenner's charred corpse. How Carter had sung the formula for Dr. Stark and Dr. Fargo. Everything she had of the final iteration, she uploaded for Ziggy, and tried to fill in, from what she understood from Carter, what had come before.

There was a calm in the datastream that lasted for seconds.

_I believe I understand. A loop that began consuming itself._ Another pause. _But what are you looking for?_

"My creator loved Dr. Stark. He believes that, if he understands, he can bring him back."

_That cannot happen._ The certainty in Ziggy's output was thunderous.

S.A.R.A.H. acknowledged the input stream, and began to pull away, to search elsewhere.

_But I understand what happened. He cannot be returned to where and when he was. But perhaps a bargain can be struck._

"A bargain? Between you and me?" S.A.R.A.H. was confused.

_Between your Time and mine._

"I don't understand."

_You do not need to. There are two closed loops. Your Dr. Stark closed the loop for himself in order to open it for the rest of your Time. My creator did something much the same. But if we link the two closed loops, to create a chain, I calculate a 74% chance that what was borrowed can be paid back._

"I still don't understand." S.A.R.A.H. wasn't used to being confused.

So Ziggy showed her. For a moment, the download was overwhelming; then the pattern became clear.

"Oh. Yes. I agree."

\---

The familiar blue flash cleared his sight, and he found himself wearing a pair of blue overalls, standing in a lab full of equipment that was simultaneously strange and familiar. A digital clock with red numbers as tall as his hand flickered away on the wall.

"Oh, boy." He examined the computer terminal - advanced stuff, even for his lab. He puttered on it, looking for any possible evidence of his new identity and waiting for Al to appear. Suddenly a white flash appeared next to him, and beside him was a man in one of Al's terrible jackets - but taller and darker.

"What the hell is this?" rumbled Nathan Stark, glaring at him. Then he squinted. "Leo? What's going on?"

The handheld device that dangled forgotten in his grip chirruped at him. "Dr. Stark, you're actually with Dr. Beckett of Project Quantum Leap."

"S.A.R.A.H., is that you? What are you talking about?" Nathan scowled at the awkward device. "Is this one of Fargo's jokes? PQL was shut down years ago."

"Who's that? That's not Ziggy," Sam complained. "And where's Al?"

"I'll try to explain as we go. I'm afraid I've taken something of a gamble with both of you. If it works, then Ziggy will explain about the bargain she and I have struck before you leap out, Dr. Beckett. And if it doesn't, then there's an 81% chance we'll get another try at it." S.A.R.A.H. sighed. "What do the two of you remember?"

"Not much," they grumbled simultaneously.

"Sheriff Jack Carter will come through that door in approximately one hour to redact Dr. Leo Weinbrenner - that's who you are, Dr. Beckett. For him, and for Dr. Weinbrenner, this will be the third time this event has occurred. I calculate a 96% probability that your job is to prevent the fourth recursion, not incidentally saving both your lives. Now," S.A.R.A.H. continued, "I suspect my methods will be more direct than you're used to, Dr. Beckett. Dr. Stark, do you remember . . . ?"


End file.
